Sunday, October 23, 2011

Well, I'm back! Over the last few months, I've had quite a bit of bad luck when it comes to technology. I have had to replace my laptop, cell phone and digital camera. It's been expensive and, frankly, frustrating. Unfortunately, I have no pictures of the nail designs I have sported over the summer. But now that I finally have a new camera, things should be getting back to normal.

I have two designs to show you today. The first one I'll show you is what I'm currently wearing, and is, of course, for Halloween. It's very simple design, similar to other patterns I have had on my nails before.

The orange in the background is Wet N Wild's 222C or 9.0.2.1.Orange (don't you love the name!!). It's a perfect Halloween orange with lots of glitter packed in. It took 3 coats to get the colour this vibrant. Then I used a striper in black to do the vertical tip. Any black polish would work for this. I like using the stripers for this kind of work, because the line turns out much sharper then using a regular black polish brush. Then I went back with the orange glitter and did a quick coat over the black. It really makes everything pop. Perfect for Halloween, and not as laborious for those of us who don't always have hours to spend on our nails. (As it seems like I never have enough time anymore :( ) This took me maybe an hour and that was only because I was waiting for the coats to dry completely between layers. I want this polish to last all week.

This is what I had on my nails last week:

I really didn't like wearing this design. Far too girly for me. Which is why I chose the colours that I did, but in the end it went beyond what I was trying to achieve. This design Is based on one that cutepolish posted a while back. Her colour choice is much more classic, in just simple black and white. First, paint your entire nail in the colour of your choice. In my example, I have used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear in Fuchsia Power. Then wait until your nails are completely dry. This is essential. To achieve the curve in the nail polish, apply reinforcements to the bottom part of the nail, similar to how you would use those french manicure stickers. If the bottom layer is not completely dry, you;ll ruin the finish. Then, paint the purple colour over top. I did a thin coat, and I liked the play between the 2 colours because the top coat wasn't completely opaque. You see the pink coming through from underneath the purple. Oh, the purple I chose was same brand as the pink in #170, Deep Purple. (Which looks fantastic on its own, btw.) Then I just used my nail dotter to add the spots. Like I said, the look is far too much for me. What do you think?